More than 20 years ago, after the sudden disappearance of my boyfriend, I became obsessed with a crazy theory that he was an undercover police spy infiltrating the political group of which I was a member. Most of my friends and family considered me delusional, and I understood why. No one had heard of the “spy cops” scandal at that point. We’ve come a long way since then.
These days, stories about undercover police having long-term intimate relationships with members of the public are not unfamiliar. The term has been referenced in parliament, across the media, and in fiction. Two BBC dramas, Sherwood and Undercover, had storylines inspired by our experiences as women deceived by professional liars into intimate, sexual relationships.
Our campaign and support organisation, Police Spies Out of Lives, aims to ensure this type of state-sponsored abuse never happens again. The story reported this week is deeply disturbing, with the victim, Mary, being deceived for nearly two decades by an undercover police officer – proving that our work is far from done.
It’s clear that Mary’s is not a historical case. Often, our concerns about abusive covert policing practices are dismissed as a thing of the past. We’re told that cases from the 1970s and 80s, as evidenced in the undercover policing inquiry, happened in another era when attitudes were different, and policing didn’t have the rigorous oversight and management it does now. According to the report, however, Mary discovered the cover-up in 2020.
The vast majority of covert deployments in the UK are not concerned with targeting political groups like the one I was involved in. Most undercover officers, such as the man who deceived Mary, are tasked elsewhere. The tactic is defended passionately by police and politicians because, they argue, of its function in protecting the public. It’s a powerful argument but one that is too often exploited to deflect criticism, prevent scrutiny and cover up wrongdoing.
I’m not easily shocked by the disgusting behaviour of undercover police, especially when it comes to their treatment of women. Some of the first accounts I heard of stories similar to mine included two officers, Bob Lambert and Jim Boyling, having children with the activists they surveilled while they were undercover.. I’ve suspected for a while there are likely to be more stories like these. We’d established early in our campaign to expose this scandal that the relationships were often long-term. I’d been with Mark Jenner for five years. “Lisa” spent six years with Mark Kennedy.
But a 19-year deception funded by taxpayers? Of an innocent woman? And no one at Avon and Somerset police put a stop to it? To even the most hardened spy cops campaigner this story, with its layers of misogyny, racism and cover-up, is mindblowing. Why did it take senior police at Avon and Somerset seven years to inform Mary? Why didn’t the undercover policing inquiry (UCPI) tell her? Why has the family been silenced by police through fears of inciting “social unrest”? And where is the protection of her right to privacy and a family life?
In 2020, around the time Mary was learning of this devastating news, the government rushed through parliament new legislation called the Covert Human Intelligence Sources (Criminal Conduct) Act, or CHIS Act for short. This law places no limits on what covert human intelligence sources (eg. undercover police, security services, informers) can be authorised to do including torture, murder and rape. When campaigning against the act, we were told by politicians that existing legislation would protect us. The facts suggest otherwise: Mary has most definitely not been protected.
The institutional misogyny and racism of the undercover units being investigated by the UCPI (set up in 2015) is part of a far bigger, national picture. With its investigations concentrating on two “elite” units in special branch, the UCPI’s focus is on the officers who spied on people involved in political protest and campaigning. But Mary’s case shifts the narrative. If it happened to Mary, it could happen to anyone. How many more women are there like her? Women who are manipulated, deceived, violated and then silenced by the authorities? Women like you, your sister, or your friend perhaps?
Police Spies Out of Lives will now do everything we can to support the family’s fight for justice and accountability. We will continue to campaign for reform of the CHIS Act which enables and facilitates abuses like this to continue, and challenge the outdated laws on consent. Mary’s case is further evidence that the police protect themselves and not the public. How many more hollow apologies do we need before there is change?
Alison is one of eight women who first took legal action against the Metropolitan police over the conduct of undercover officers and a founder member of Police Spies Out of Lives. A core participant in the public inquiry into undercover policing, she is one of the authors of Deep Deception – The Story of the Spycop Network by the Women who Uncovered the Shocking Truth. Twitter: @AlisonSpycops
Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.
